Virginia, United States — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Virginia known for?

Virginia's reputation begins with its past. Jamestown, founded on the James River in 1607, was the first permanent English settlement in North America, and the Historic Triangle links it with Colonial Williamsburg and the Yorktown battlefield nearby. Eight men who became president were born here, among them Thomas Jefferson, whose hilltop house Monticello stands above Charlottesville.

Inland, Shenandoah National Park carries Skyline Drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. On the coast, Naval Station Norfolk anchors the Hampton Roads harbour.

Where is Virginia?

Virginia lies in the eastern United States, on the middle stretch of the Atlantic seaboard. It borders six neighbours. Maryland and the national capital at Washington sit across the Potomac River to the north, while Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean form the eastern edge, North Carolina and Tennessee run along the south, and Kentucky and West Virginia close off the rugged west. The Commonwealth narrows to a mountain point in its far south-west corner.

The land climbs as it moves inland. Five belts cross the state in parallel. The low Tidewater, or Coastal Plain, meets the Piedmont at the Fall Line, the band of rapids that fixed the early ports of Alexandria, Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Petersburg.

West of the Piedmont the Blue Ridge Mountains rise to Mount Rogers, the highest ground in Virginia, and behind them the Shenandoah Valley runs north-east between long parallel ridges. The Appalachian Plateau fills the last corner beyond. Water drains east to the bay.

The Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James rivers all empty into Chesapeake Bay, and the James threads through Richmond on its way. Across the bay lies the Eastern Shore, a low peninsula tied to the mainland by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The sea is never far to the east.

What is Virginia like?

Virginia carries its history openly. The colonial past is the anchor. Costumed interpreters work the streets of Colonial Williamsburg, and the mountaintop villa of Monticello, George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon, and James Madison's Montpelier all stand open to visitors.

Eight men born in the Commonwealth rose to the presidency, more than from any other state. The scars of the Civil War run just as deep, from the battlefields around Richmond, the former Confederate capital, to the courthouse village of Appomattox where the fighting ended. Beyond the monuments, the culture turns rural and musical.

Old-time and bluegrass fiddling fills the mountains of Southwest Virginia along a driving route called The Crooked Road. The table is distinctive too. Salt-cured Virginia ham, boiled peanuts, and briny Chincoteague oysters all come off the state's farms and tidal shallows.

Southern habits soften as the land runs east toward the coast. Open land is close at hand. Shenandoah National Park draws hikers onto Skyline Drive and the Appalachian Trail, and the vineyards around Charlottesville form a serious wine country under Thomas Jefferson's old hills.

The coast keeps its own rhythm, from the Navy piers at Norfolk to the wild ponies of Chincoteague.

What is the history of Virginia?

English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607 and built the first permanent English colony in North America. Self-government followed early. The House of Burgesses met in 1619 as the first elected assembly anywhere in the colonies.

Named for Elizabeth I, the unmarried Virgin Queen, Virginia grew into the largest and wealthiest of Britain's American possessions and earned the nickname the Old Dominion. The Revolution closed at Yorktown in 1781, and Virginia ratified the federal Constitution in 1788 as the tenth state. Richmond became the Confederate capital in 1861, and the Civil War ground to its close in 1865 at Appomattox.

What is the climate of Virginia?

Most of Virginia has a humid subtropical climate. Summers run hot and sticky. The Tidewater coast and the Piedmont share long warm seasons and short, mild winters, and thunderstorms build over the muggy afternoons.

The Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah Valley climb into cooler mountain air, where winters turn sharper and snow settles on the higher ridges. Autumn brings colour to the hills, while the Atlantic coast watches the tropics through hurricane season.

How do you get to Virginia?

Most visitors fly in through Northern Virginia. Washington Dulles and Reagan National, both just outside the national capital, carry the heaviest traffic, while Richmond and Norfolk airports serve the centre and the coast. Rail serves Virginia as well.

Amtrak's Northeast Regional threads down from Washington through Alexandria, Richmond, Williamsburg, and Norfolk. On the road, Interstate 95 runs the length of the state north to south, Interstate 64 crosses east to Hampton Roads, and Interstate 81 follows the Shenandoah Valley through the mountains.